Baby Gear

Carrie went with an expectant triplet Mom to Baby's 'R' Us on Saturday. My fellow triplet Dad Ryan said today, "They should have tissues at the entrance to that place. That way all the scared parents can wipe away their tears as they look at the ridiculous expensive crap you don't need." I wasn't allowed to go along on the trip with the expectant Mom. Why? Good common sense on Carrie's part for one. Second, I would have been a very bad influence on the proceedings telling her exactly why she didn't need a baby air purifier for $129.99. This is a message to Keith and Stephanie who are expecting triplets or to anyone who is:

Do not worry. You don't need half the crap people say you need. Baby stuff is everywhere for free. We haven't purchased hardly anything. Swings, clothes, bibs, towels, tubs, rattles, bottles, you name it. Don't let this stuff scare you. Tons of it got passed down to us, and we will pass it on. There is no need to spend good money on stuff they will use twice.

Back to Baby Stuff:

There are plenty of things that I have to complain about as far as baby stuff is concerned. The first thing is the baby monitor. Now, there are plenty of houses where a baby monitor is required. Ours doesn't happen to be one of them. The baby room is nine steps from our bed to their door. How do I know this? I just counted. However, we do have a baby monitor. Why? Cause if you don't have one you are a bad parent or something. I can tell you one thing, we can hear the boys scream without the monitor. It's easy. The monitor simply amplifies the sound. It actually gives you some sort of weird delay on the screams. You get it from the monitor, and from the actual baby at the same time. Why am I mad about the baby monitor? Well, the thing totally screwed me over the other night. Here's what happened.

I fed the boys at their 10:00 p.m. feeding and took the monitor to bed with me placing it on the nightstand on my side of the bed. Now, the thing beeps when one of two things are happening. It beeps if the temperature rises above 79 degrees, and it beeps when the battery is going dead. For some reason, the battery life on ours is getting less and less. Before, you could get a good six hours out of a charge. Now, it's like two hours. Anyway, I'm a deep sleeper. I spent a lot of years on the road with a huge party going on around me and I found a way to sleep through anything. Anyway, the battery was going dead on the baby monitor and it was beeping. Carrie wakes me up and tells me about it. I look over and hear the thing beep. In my sleep addled mind, I thought, "Hey, you better charge it up. If you don't have it in here with you, you are a bad parent." So, I go to put it on the charging base which is in the boys room of course. I open the door and fall over the chair that sits in the room. I crash into the dresser which holds the charger. This of course wakes up all three babies. I place the monitor on the charger, make my way back to bed, and try to go back to sleep. Well, the babies I had awoken were having none of that. I spent the rest of the night trying to get them to go to sleep. The whole night sucked. I basically use the baby monitor to see what temperature it is in the room. The thing is a piece of crap.

The next thing I would like to address is the snap up pajamas that seem to be common place. Snap up pajamas? I mean really. There are like 18 snaps on one of these things. Zip up pajamas are where it's at. Who wants to wake up at three in the morning and have 18 snaps to contend with to change a diaper? I think it's a cruel joke. Furthermore, if you start wrong and snap in the wrong place, you have to start over again. Meanwhile the baby is getting more and more agitated. Babies don't just stick their legs out and allow you to slip their pajamas on with ease. No, they make things difficult by kicking and crying. I completely understand. Do adults have pants with 18-20 snaps on them? No they don't. Half the time when I put their pajamas on, all the snaps don't get snapped, and the bottom of the pajamas is showing a lot of diaper. What if your prom date had 18 to 20 snaps? A teenage boy would go insane.

The next one might get me into trouble, but here it goes. Baby Videos. I happen to think that baby videos are bunk. The boys have several baby videos, and the cinematography on the things is laughable. We have one that looks like a dude with a hand held Sony Video Camera filmed some toys and overdubbed some music. Most of these things just go for big colorful objects. I admit, our boys seem to like them. This is a good way to occupy them for a bit. They stare at the big objects and listen to the music. My theory was that ANY video would work. So, on Saturday, which was my day to be Mr. Mom, I tried a Jeff Beck DVD. For those of you who don't know, Jeff is probably the greatest living guitar player on earth. Anyhow, the boys LOVED the show. Cash was dancing, Cade was smiling, and Zane threw his arms around to keep time with the music. I like the Baby Beethoven DVD. Why? Classical music is awesome and I want our boys to be exposed to it. Some of those other videos are really low rent.

How are the boys? The boys are awesome. We went to the doctor for their four month check-up, and it went very well. The boys all weigh around 14 pounds 10 ounces. They are doing a great job catching up from being born premature. The cool thing is, they are starting to smile and recognize us and each other. Look at this face.

If this is not a reason to get up in the morning, I don't know what is. This is Cash by the way. He is still the biggest weighing in at 14 pounds 13 ounces.

Here we are at the Doctor's Office.



This is Cade and Cash waiting for the Doctor to finish up with Brother Zane.

This is Zane. We found out at the Doctor that Zane may have a hernia that might require surgery. He will see a specialist on November 11th. We are a little worried about him, but if he needs it, this is a minor procedure. However, no one wants their kid to have surgery, but it could be so much worse.


Finally, I have to salute my lovely wife. As I mentioned before, on Saturday I played Mr. Mom. Carrie did some things with friends as well as getting all her hair cut off. I really like it by the way. Anyhow, I did everything on Saturday by myself, or most of it anyway, and it's a job. The boys and I did well on our own, but Carrie does this by herself everyday. I'm lucky to have such a beautiful wife who is a great Mom. Taking care of three babies is extremely difficult. It requires extreme patience and understanding with yourself, your spouse, and the babies. I'm very lucky to have a great person to go through this adventure with.

Extreme Parenting

It's true. There have been no recent blog posts here at Rolling For Trips. I admit that I have been really slacking in the writing department. Why you ask? Well, my dance card has been quite full lately. If you think my schedule has been a little hectic, then we can take a look at Carrie's schedule. We can sum that thing up in one word:

Babies.

End of Story.

If you are friends of ours, you haven't heard from us. If you are members of our family, you haven't heard from us.

If we had an old fashioned answering machine, the outgoing message would say:

"Hello. You have reached The Krug House. We are not available and we won't be for several years. You can leave a message just to humor yourself, but we won't listen to it, and if you think we are going to call you back, you have a better chance of being served an ice cold beer in hell."

This is extreme parenting. You gotta want it.

Two weeks ago, we used to brag to people how the boys slept pretty much all night.

This has changed. Take this morning for instance. We fed the boys and they went to sleep at around 10:30 P.M. We went to sleep ourselves until Cash decided that he was ready to kick start the party at 3:48 A.M. Before, the boys pretty much ignored each other. Now, they wake each other up with their howling. I imagine it goes like this.

Cash: Hey guys. I am a little bored over here and I peed my pants. So, I'm going to start yelling.

Cash proceeds to yell.

Cade: (waking up) Hey! Why are we yelling? Fine. I'm going to yell too.

Cade starts yelling.

Zane: You guys aren't to leave me out.

Zane yells.

All three babies are yelling at the top of their lungs. The baby monitor vibrates across the nightstand as Mom and Dad curse under their breath. The dog buries her head under the covers and wonders why the babies are allowed in the house.

Mom stumbles out of bed and picks up the loudest baby.

Dad puts up his best fight and lays in bed trying to ignore the chorus of baby howls coming from the nursery.

Mom brings a baby to Dad.

Mom: Hold Zane for a minute. I'm going to change Cash.

Zane is handed to Dad so that he can scream directly into Dad's ear.

Dad gives up and gets up with whomever he was handed and heads out.

This is when they get you. You may be tired. You may be annoyed. However, when that little boy looks up at you in his little pajamas and opens up his eyes as if to say:

"Hi Dad. I just wanted to hang out with you."

You can't be mad.

Sleep seems unimportant. The boys are all up. Mom is up. The dog is up. Why not have some family time? Usually we go sit on the couch and start the 6:00 A.M. feeding a bit early. Today it started at 5:30 A.M. which isn't too bad.

After they get fed and changed, they go right back to sleep. Mom goes back to bed. The dog goes back to bed, and Dad throws in the towel and makes coffee.

This triplet thing is not easy. I'm not going to lie to you. I have a very hard time with two things.

Balance and Patience.

Balance. Time management becomes very important. First of all, you have your triplets to take care of. Then you have your work to do. Gotta earn a living. Oh, and by the way you are still married. That's right. Your wife is still that hot girl you met that one night not so long ago. Making time for your marriage is difficult. Finally, if you can work it in, you need time for yourself.

That's why there hasn't been much blogging going on.

Patience. This was not a virtue that I was given. With triplets, patience is essential. Perhaps the most important thing. First of all, it starts with being patient with the babies. They don't understand that when they scream it's like finger nails on a chalkboard while listening to Coldplay, Fleetwood Mac, and The Eagles at the same time on three very loud stereos. You have to be patient with your spouse. Hey, this is all new to them too. Things are going to get done at a different pace. I'm not good at this. I want things done now. I want broken things fixed immediately. I want babies to stop crying as soon as they start.

Not going to happen.

So, we are learning. "We" are learning that you shouldn't be outside beating on metal with a hammer while playing Black Label Society at full volume while someone is inside trying to put the boys down for a nap. "We" are also learning that you can't drink five beers and be effective at the 10:00 P.M. feeding.

Balance and Patience.

We will get there. Everything will fall into place. It has already started happening. I look back on the four and a half months since the boys were born, and things have settled into what they are. I'm sure it will continue to be a battle, but it is a battle that we are committed to win.

So, I leave you with Baby Elvis. The boys are dressing up as Elvis for Halloween. All three of them.

Why?

Cause it's Elvis.

That's why.

Four Months Old

Yesterday on October 2nd, the boys turned four months old. They celebrated this milestone by screaming at the top of their lungs pretty much all day long. In fact, this is how they celebrated October 1st and September 30th. In the past two weeks the boys have taken up yelling as their new hobby. This makes for quite a bit of excitement around the house. The dog tries to stick her head between the couch cushions. The cats take refuge in whatever room happens to be baby free. The other day, I came home to a chorus of screams. I walked into the house and Carrie appeared to be shell shocked. She had the look of a person who had been under interrogation for the past eight to twelve hours. I knew that I needed to pitch in and help out. We tried the swings. The swings work sometimes and usually for very short intervals. Sometimes you have to go with the swing/pacifier combo to get them to be quiet. Holding the baby will generally put them in a tranquil mood. However, it is very difficult to hold three babies at once. In response, I have developed a technique.

They usually like this. It allows them to look around and check out their surroundings which they are really starting to do. This picture was taken last night right after the 7:00 P.M. feeding. I can't hold them like this forever. Despite how easy it may look, this technique is both physically and mentally demanding.

Back to the subject. There are other ways in which to make the boys happy and not scream until they turn purple. One place is in the car. If you are driving in the car and hitting plenty of bumps, this will calm the boys. They love bumps. The rougher the road the better. Stopping is the worst thing ever. Stop signs and stop lights are met with a chorus of discontent from the backseat. Keep it moving. The fact that they like rough roads has led me to believe that we should travel everywhere cross country. Taking a ditch and bouncing the vehicle along the side of the road would no doubt make them extremely happy.

Another place they are happy is in their stroller. Hold on. There is a catch. The stroller has to be in constant motion. Stop the stroller for an instant, and you will hear exactly how they feel about it. If we have to stop, you must shake the stroller or shake an individual seat. I am amazed at how violent they seem to like their method of travel. Most people like smooth sailing. Not our boys. Bumps in the road are welcome.



There is also a sure fire way to get them to be quiet. It is no secret that my favorite band is Guns 'n' Roses. My favorite song is Paradise City. This is also the favorite song of our boys. Play this song, and they instantly become calm and happy. Why? Well, without Guns 'n' Roses, I wouldn't have started playing guitar. If that would have never happened, I would not have been in Central Illinois playing a show. If it weren't for that show, Carrie's friends would not have been able to force her to go to this show where she met me. I believe the boys know on same basic level that without Guns, they would never have been born.

This brings us to one simple fact and I doubt the guys in the band thought of this when they formed, but Guns 'n' Roses equals Triplets.



Carrie has this song on her IPOD and uses it whenever a car ride gets too dull for the boys. It almost brings tears to my eyes to think about my boys loving Rock 'n' Roll. They love to watch this video. In fact, they love to watch music videos. The fact of the matter is, much to the chagrin of their mother, these boys are metal heads. They love it loud and hard. They like their travel rough and their music rougher.

That and each one of them can scream like a banshee. This is important to a metal musician. I have studied the scream and it starts with the face getting twisted up. The eyes closed. The bottom lip starts to quiver. You have about two seconds before total meltdown. Then the scream starts and gets louder. They almost forget to breath as their faces turn purple and they howl with a volume that is so intense, I am amazed that it comes out of such a little body.

Here is a picture of the boys on the couch on their four month birthday.


We are very thankful for the schedule the boys are on. They are sleeping pretty much all night, and they all wake up pretty much every morning around 6:45. I imagine they are around the 14 pound mark. They are awesome, and Carrie and I can't imagine life without them. I don't even know what it is I used to do. It doesn't matter. This is what we do now.

In other news, we had a couple come over to the house that are expecting triplets of their own. They were very nice people who looked like they were scared out of their minds. The Dad looked like a deer who was about to be run over by three cement trucks. I hope we made them feel better. It reminded me of when we went to meet the Britton Family here in Austin while Carrie was pregnant. After we left, I almost threw up. Anyhow, Carrie and I have decided to write a blog specifically about having triplets and what worked for us up to this point. We have been getting e-mails from people expecting triplets from all over and it's pretty cool that we can help people out in some small way.

Anyway, I leave you with another photo from yesterday. This is the surprised look that they usually have while they are trying to figure out the world. I hate to tell them that the world will continue to shock and surprise them long after they are babies.